But the England boss will be ruing the lack of chances his side created, with Andros Townsend providing the only genuine threat to the visitors’ defence, despite a front-line of Wayne Rooney and Daniel Sturridge.

However, for their lack of firepower in front of goal, England did look a more composed and confident side than that which lost 2-0 to Chile on Friday night.

England’s first sight of goal came in the 20th minute when Tom Cleverley’s cross was met by the head of Rooney, but the Manchester United man couldn’t add any pace to the ball and it dipped harmlessly over Roman Weidenfeller’s bar.

But Hodgson’s side continued to press forward, attacking with pace and confidence as they looked to break the deadlock.

However it was the visitors who finished the half on top as they began to find their feet and Joe Hart was called into action for the first time eight minutes before the break, saving brilliantly from a powerful Mertesacker header.

But the City stopper was powerless to stop the Arsenal defender seconds later, as he once again rose above the England defence to find the corner of Hart’s goal.

Steven Gerrard went close to leveling the scores a minute before the half-time, when good work from Townsend found his captain 20 yards from goal, but his dipping shot flew marginally over Weidenfeller’s goal.

England took the game to Germany in the opening stages (Picture: AP)

Despite a good start to the second-half from Germany, in which Hart needed to be alert to deny Marco Reus, England nearly found an early equaliser after another great run from Townsend allowed Rooney to hit a deep cross towards Sturridge, but Lallana couldn’t quite meet his pull-back across the face of goal.

A great turn from the Southampton man nearly created an opening a minute later, but the German defence were on their toes to clear the danger.

But they could only watch as a superb low effort from Townsend beat the outstretched arm of Weidenfeller and rattled the post.

Hart was the next of the goalkeepers to be called into action as he again pulled off a good stop to deny the visitors.

England upped the ante again as the game entered the final 10 minutes, enjoying a succession of corners as they searched for the equaliser.

But the hosts’ hard work was to little avail, with a distinct lack of cutting edge in front of goal and Germany held firm to condemn England to successive Wembley defeats for the first time in 36 years.